How does Dual Wielding work really?

I know the obvious is it means a sword in each hand, but how does the skill really function? Originally on my conqueror I went dual wield for the bleed effects and such, but I switched over to brute since it seemed more predctable and reliable. I was told that when you dual wield the weapons you are wielding do not do the full damage listed in their profile. Can anyone confirm? If so what percentage does it do? How often does the off hand get factored in actually?

I am curious about this because frankly I like dual wield better visually, but its hard to tell how it is working.

Thanks

Traditionally (and in almost every other game ive played) dual weilding (offhand weapon) usually has a - hit modifier and a - damage modifier, sadly im not sure how it works in this game but i doubt they would leave dual weilding at full damage, everyone would dual weild due to the massive amount of damage it would push out.

I can't confirm this for sure, but the way I understand it is that your off-hand weapon has a chance to hit (dual wield grants you the ability to have a chance to hit with any offhand weapon). This chance can be augmented with the feat tree or bonuses that are on the weapon itself (or any other piece of equipment for that matter).

For example, my offhand weapon has a +0.8% chance for hitting with offhand, and in my Reaver tree, I picked up Ambidextrious and Twist and Tear which further increases my chance to hit and do damage with my off hand weapon.

I think what you are really getting at is...Are you a stats man or a style man. If you want the best stats possible and duel wielding has a perceived weakness then you will obviously go some route besides duel wield. However, if you are like me, I don't really care if I have the best stats possible. I will take the cool look and style points anyday. Obviously, you can only carry this to a point. If a single weapon is doing twice the damage of duel wield that's a no brainer, but I have not noticed a big difference so I take the style points.